Museum of Fine Arts of Seville
The Museum of Fine Arts of Seville is one of the great art galleries of Spain, a benchmark in Sevillian Baroque, in Murillo, Zurbarán, Valdés Leal, romantic painting, genre …
💎🇬🇧 Private Guided Tour
We are experts in art and history and our Seville private tours are unique and different thanks to our excellent guides.
Contact us: Email or 
Whatsapp
🙋🇬🇧 Small-group guided tour
🛒BOOK NOW
Tour with a professional guide
In two hours you can see all the most important paintings, explained by one of our Art Historian expert guides in an engaging way.
The museum showcases a rich collection of Spanish art from the 15th to the 20th centuries, including works by some of the most important artists of the time, such as Murillo, Zurbarán, and Valdés Leal.
🖼️ Highlights
Anyone with the slightest cultural interest should visit the rooms of this wonderful Museum of Fine Arts in Seville, one of Spain’s great art galleries, although it also has a good collection of sculptures and ceramics.
It is an old convent and a beautiful building with patios, large stairs, pools and beautiful rooms. The section of paintings from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with Andalusian and romantic scenes, is very attractive.
We recommend visiting on a Sunday morning because an art market is set up in the Plaza del Museo.
We recommend you take a guided tour of the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville, it is a really unique experience.
The origins of the museum
Perhaps little known and unfairly eclipsed by other collections with better marketing, the Sevillian art gallery enjoys an enviable collection, with world-class works, within the framework of a building that contributes to the experience of the visit, a former convent.
It is a true benchmark for the Sevillian school of painting, a genre that was unrivalled in the world during the 17th century and which also reached very special heights in Romantic and genre painting in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The location is very comfortable for the tourist, as it is located in the picturesque Plaza del Museo.
This square is a few steps from the Plaza del Duque and next to Calles Sierpes and Tetuán, which are not to be missed. This area stands out for its shopping and dining options.
The Seville Museum of Fine Arts finds its home in the former Convent of La Merced Calzada, a splendid example of Spanish Baroque architecture. Founded in 1835, the museum boasts a history that parallels the evolution of Seville’s artistic landscape, making it one of the most important art museums in Spain.
The building is one of the best samples of the Andalusian Mannerist style. Juan de Oviedo y de la Bandera was the architect who devised the construction project, promoted by Alonso de Monroy.
As visitors explore the museum, they are treated to charming courtyards adorned with lush greenery and tranquil fountains
It occupies the old Convent of La Merced Calzada, founded after the conquest of Seville in 1248.
We recommend that as soon as you enter, before entering the rooms that house the painting collections, you enjoy its courtyards and see some of the works of art exhibited in these exterior areas, especially the tiles, which are very old.
The experience of the museum begins by touring its courtyards and enjoying its beautiful architecture
The lobby and courtyards are decorated with tiles from various Sevillian convents.
Take an unhurried look at the Main Cloister, the cloister of Los Bojes, the Cloister of the Cistern and the courtyard of the shells with its pool. They are interior spaces with an enormous charm that take us back to the building’s conventual past.
The museum’s collection
As visitors step into the museum, they are greeted by a vast collection that spans several centuries, showcasing the artistic achievements of Andalusia from the medieval period to the 20th century. The museum’s focus on Andalusian artists allows for a deeper understanding of the region’s cultural influences and artistic traditions.
The gallery is divided into 14 rooms distributed in chronological order. The religious theme is the predominant one and only the most modern works are separated from it.
The museum opened its doors to the public in 1841 with works from disentailed convents and monasteries.
The Museum of Seville comes mainly from the confiscation of the assets of the Church in the nineteenth century and the confiscation of property of churches and convents. This is apparent in the widespread presence of religious painting. Donations and acquisitions have completed the collection we enjoy today.
The Seville Museum of Fine Arts has a strong focus on religious art, reflecting the historical significance of the Catholic Church in Seville. The paintings and sculptures depict scenes from biblical narratives and saints, illustrating the deep devotion and spirituality that shaped the city’s cultural identity.
The bulk of the museum’s collection comes from the confiscation of Church property.
ROOM 1 Sevillian painting and sculpture in the fifteenth century
The first room houses medieval Spanish and Sevillian jewels. Spanish Gothic and the beginning of the Sevillian School
ROOM 2. Renaissance Art
The Sevillian school began to gain momentum thanks to Italian artists, such as Torrigiano, and Flemish-style artists, such as Alejo Fernández, who brought the Renaissance to Seville. There are works by El Greco, Martin de Voos and Lucas Cranach.
The Seville Museum of Fine Arts proudly displays masterpieces by some of Spain’s most celebrated artists
In the room attached to the II, an interesting anatomical study in sculpture of San Jerónimo by Pietro Torrigiano, a masterpiece of sculpture of great influence in the later school of Sevillian imagery, stands out. It is accompanied by small and delicate religious paintings in the Flemish style.
ROOM 3. Mannerism
This room exhibits the work of the painters who worked in Seville in the last third of the sixteenth century, such as Francisco Pacheco, Alonso Vázquez and Vasco Pereira. Pacheco was also the discoverer and father-in-law of Velázquez.
ROOM 4. Naturalism
The beginnings of Naturalism in Sevillian painting are shown with authors such as Francisco Pacheco and his disciples Diego Velázquez and Alonso Cano. We must also highlight paintings by Juan de Roelas.
The museum’s collection of Baroque and Golden Age art is particularly noteworthy
ROOM 5. Murillo and the Sevillian School of the Baroque
One of the great attractions is Room 5, the former convent’s old church, currently dedicated to Murillo and the great masters who preceded him in the first half of the seventeenth century. The set of paintings he made for the Church of the Sevillian Convent of Capuchins is one of his best works and the most important that the museum preserves.
It has a huge access room with large-format paintings, from which the Immaculate Conception by Murillo and the Crucified by Zurbarán stand out.
Later you enter another large space that is the true sanctuary of Murillo, with some of his masterpieces:
ROOM 6. The Spanish and Sevillian Baroque
A selection of Sevillian and Madrid baroque paintings, with the particularly noteworthy series of holy martyrs of Zurbarán’s workshop.
ROOM 7. Murillo and his disciples
This room exhibits works by Murillo and some of his closest followers.
ROOM 8. Juan de Valdés Leal
Dedicated to the work of this artist, the series for the Monastery of San Jerónimo and for the Professed House of the Society of Jesus in Seville are particularly outstanding.
ROOM 9. European Baroque painting
Dedicated to Italian and Flemish painting. José de Ribera and Jan Brueghel the Younger stand out.
ROOM 10 Francisco de Zurbarán, Juan de Mesa and Martínez Montañés.
This room shows the paintings that the artist made for the Cartuja de las Cuevas and the convent of San Pablo in Seville.
In the adjoining room, sculptures by Juan Martínez Montañés and his disciple Juan de Mesa are exhibited.
ROOM 11. Sevillian paintings of the eighteenth century and Goya
This period follows the imprint of Murillo and Valdés Leal, together with the opening to European currents. The room is completed with a portrait by Francisco de Goya.
ROOM 12. Sevillian painting of the nineteenth century
The typical Andalusian genre paintings, with their cigars, bullfighting scenes, bandits and fairs, are another of the museum’s great attractions. You will see Andalusian paintings from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The works show the evolution from the romantic genre to Realism. The work of García Ramos, José Villegas and Las Cigarreras by Gonzalo Bilbao stand out.
The first part of the room focuses on romanticism:
The second in Andalusian genre scenes
ROOM 13. Sevillian art of the twentieth century
This room shows the Sevillian painters of the early decades, among which Gonzalo Bilbao and Gustavo Bacarisas stand out.
ROOM 14. Spanish painting of the twentieth century
Works by several authors such as Zuloaga, Vázquez Díaz and Sorolla are exhibited.
The Sevillian baroque School
The Sevillian School, also known as the School of Seville, was a group of painters from the Spanish city of Seville who were active in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Some of the best painters from this school include:
Diego Velázquez – Velázquez is widely regarded as one of the greatest painters in the history of Spanish art. He was born in Seville in 1599 and trained under Francisco Pacheco. His most famous works include “Las Meninas” and “The Surrender of Breda.”
Francisco de Zurbarán – Zurbarán was another influential painter from Seville. He is known for his religious paintings and was particularly skilled at capturing the textures of fabrics and draperies. Some of his notable works include “Agnus Dei” and “Saint Serapion.”
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo – Murillo was born in Seville in 1617 and is known for his religious and genre paintings. His works often depicted street urchins and peasants, and he was skilled at creating a sense of emotion and movement in his compositions. Some of his most famous works include “The Immaculate Conception” and “The Young Beggar.”
Juan de Valdés Leal – Valdés Leal was a 17th-century painter from Seville who specialized in religious art. He was known for his use of chiaroscuro and his dramatic, almost theatrical compositions. Some of his most notable works include “Finis Gloriae Mundi” and “Saint Francis in Meditation.”
Francisco Herrera the Elder – Herrera was a painter from Seville who was active in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He was known for his bold use of color and his dynamic compositions. Some of his most famous works include “The Last Judgment” and “The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew.”
Guided tour
Spend a few hours enjoying the best works of art in Seville at the Museum of Fine Arts with a specialised official guide. Murillo, Zurbarán, Valdes Leal and other important names of the Baroque, along with Andalusian genre painting and the classics of the nineteenth century.
Do you have any questions? Please contact us or write to us:
Email or Whatsapp
Our Art Historian guides are experts in the museums of Sevilla.
Practical info
Address: Plaza del Museo, 9 41001 Sevilla
General telephone number: 954 78 65 00
Visiting hours
Tuesdays to Saturdays from 09:00 to 21:00; Sundays and holidays from 09:00 to 15:00. Closed on Mondays (except those that precede holidays, when the museum will also open from 09:00 to 15:00)
Entrance Price: 1.5 euros.
Free for accredited European Union citizens
Students with International ICOM Members Cards
If you want to make a special, thematic, private or group visit, contact info@visitarsevilla.com
Visiting the Real Alcazar of Seville
Deja un comentario